HoosierCat Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 For some reason, football outsiders is revisiting the 1987 strike season. Hey, the content monster must be fed, I suppose. And in doing so they bring back one of the franchise's nightmare moments, which naturally came at the hands of Cincy arch-nemesis Joe Montana. It's week 2 of the 1987 season: Quote The second game of the season was even stranger than the first. The 49ers went to Cincinnati and were trailing the Bengals 26-20 when they got the ball back with two minutes left. Joe Montana is one of the greatest comeback artists in NFL history, right? He threw two incomplete passes to John Taylor and then took an 8-yard sack, and the 49ers punted the ball back with 54 seconds left. The play-by-play does not list timeouts, but it's clear that the 49ers had two timeouts left when they punted. Their only hope was to somehow get the ball back with less than 10 seconds left for a miracle play. And then the Cincinnati Bengals somehow screwed up the process of kneeling out the clock. Boomer Esiason kneeled down for a 2-yard loss, and took five seconds off the clock. Timeout. He kneeled down for a 3-yard loss, and took four more seconds off the clock. Timeout. On third-and-15, he stepped back really far and took a 5-yard loss and then let the clock run all the way down to six seconds left. The Bengals took a delay of game penalty there, giving them fourth-and-25 from their own 30 with six seconds left. This is a pretty easy situation, right? It seems obvious the Bengals should a punt, but there's always the possibility of a block. A better option would be to have the punter run out of the end zone for an intentional safety, which would then make the last play of the game a free kick from the 20-yard line. Sam Wyche did neither of these things. Instead, he thought keeping the ball on the ground could somehow use six seconds off the clock. The Bengals ran a sweep with James Brooks and he got slammed by 49ers defensive end Kevin Fagan, tackled five yards behind the line of scrimmage with two seconds on the clock. That left room for one play from the Cincinnati 25, and Montana hit Rice leaping in the end zone for a touchdown. The extra point was good and the 49ers won 27-26. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArmyBengal Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 Poor night of sleep, sh*t day at work arguing, and now I get an internet get in the nuts. Thanks Hoosier !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMPHAR Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 Yeah that was a catalyst for that once promising season going down the tubes. I think the next week the strike began. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishbengal Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 That game was the highlight game the following Sunday over here, nobody could believe they didn't take the safety and so win the game. Stupid stupid !!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierCat Posted March 13, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 1 hour ago, ArmyBengal said: Poor night of sleep, sh*t day at work arguing, and now I get an internet get in the nuts. Thanks Hoosier !!! You're welcome! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GapControl Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 Depressing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stripes Posted March 15, 2017 Report Share Posted March 15, 2017 That was the second Bengals game to occur in my lifetime. Good omen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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